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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. game — wild animals
  3. squash — the sport
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. perch — the fish
  7. file — a tool
  8. game — a match
  9. row — a line
  10. saw — the tool
  11. saw — the tool
  12. row — to paddle
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. squash — to crush
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. tear — from crying
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. file — a document
  22. tear — to rip
  23. tear — from crying
  24. perch — for a bird

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com